The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-06-09
What We May Have to Meet.

From the New Orleans Times Democrat.
About the time when our new cruis-
BIS and gunboats first touch salt wa
ter the British admiralty will have,
tully equipped and ready for service, q
fleet OF twenty-five armor-clads, which
viii represent the highest develop
ment, so far, in English ship building.
Besides these, q considerable number
of vessels of less recent construction,
but excellent of their kind, like the
POlyphemus, will, of course, form part
of the active fleet, while others which
are considered as falling short OF the
requirements of the age will form q re-
serve force for the purpose OF coast
and harbor defense.
OF the 25 new ships, the total cost
of which exceeds 500, 200, 900, several
are already in commission; others are
complete with the exception of their
armament; only O. few are still in the
earlier stages OF construction.
Three types of armor-clad ships APP
pear. to have been definitely adopted
by ths~admiralty. At any rate the 2o
new vessels may be divided under
three heads.
Nine of the twenty-five are turret-
ships, with an average displacement
of about 9,7OO tons. The largest OF
these are the Nile and the Trafalgar,
with II, 94O tons, 10, 500 horse power,
and twelve guns. The smallest is the
Hero, with $500 tons, 5000 horse
power. six guns. But the most formid-
able, probably. are the Renown, Sans
Parell and Victoria, which, falling but
little short OF the Nile and Trafalgar
in size, have a horsepower of $4,000
and large number of guns, two OF
which are the 11O.ton size. The speed
designed for these three ships is seven
teen knots. The small turret-ship
Hero carries Aston guns, and has a
speed OF only fifteen knots-about
equal, say, to that OF the Atlanta.
The second type OF armor-clads is
the barbette-ship. Eight OF the new
vessels are of this type. Their aver
age tonnage is about 9,15O. The two
smallest are the Warspite and I'M
perieuse. These have a displacement
OF 1890 tons, carry ten guns, and are
propelled by engines of 5000 horse
power. The other six-the "Admirap
ships-are much larger. The Arson,
Benbow and Camperdown have the
greatest tonnage 100000 but the
Collingwood, Howe and Rodney are
the most powerful ships of this class,
having 5000 tons less in displacement,
but being similarly armed and pos
sessing engines with $3.50 horse power,
1000 more than the three first named
of the "Admirap' ships.
The eight remaining vessels are
cruisers, and are all precisely the same
in type, size, horsepower and arma-
nent. They are plated with steel ar
NOR, carrying IL guns, have a displace-
ment of 5000 tons, and are propelled
at a rate of Is knots by engines OF
$500 horsepower.
In addition to these armor-clad ves-
sells, Great Britain has in process OF
construction a large number of torpe-
do cruisers, torpedo boats, composite
gunboats, torpedo gunboats, compo'
site sloops and unarmored steam
cruisers-altogether q formidable ar
ray OF ships OF war.
Several of the last.named, either
recently completed or approaching
completion, are similar in size and
character to our own new cruisers; as,
for example, the Amphion and Are.
thusa 10 guns, $3.50 horse-power),
complete, and the Forth and Severn
(12 guns, $3.50 tons, 5000 horse.
powerl, nearly complete.